Home is Where the Heart is
by MixBerkaan
Summary: When something goes wrong in the Anima as the group tries to return to Earthland, Natsu and Lucy are separated from the rest and end up unconscious in modern-day Tokyo, where they are found by the Sailor Scouts. How will they adapt to their new surroundings? Who will they meet? Will they ever get back to Earthland? Rated M for Strong Language and possible sexual themes later on.
1. Chapter 1

"There's nothing you can't do so long as you have the spirit of the guild, got it?" the words were quiet, not carrying beyond the pair who fought in the middle of the open ring. The people of Edolas's capital flocked to the sight where the blue haired youth claiming to be their lost prince fought to save them from the Demon Lord Dragneel. Everyone was hushed, unable to make any noise that might drown out the thumps and thuds coming from the villain and hero.

At last, the fight was over, leaving the Demon Lord collapsed on the ground at their savior's feet. Could it really be possible? Could their magicless prince, for more were granting him the title with each passing moment, truly have defeated a demon of such power? The silence was profound as the onlookers gradually felt hope bubble within their chests. Who cared if they didn't have magic? They could do anything they believed in.

A cheer arose from the back of the crowd, and the rest quickly joined in, celebrating their rescue. On the ground in the center, the Great Demon Lord Dragneel looked up with a grin at Jellal, the newly returned Prince of Edolas. "I hope we meet again, Mystogan" he said, before he closed his eyes. Jellal honestly couldn't figure out if he was pretending to be knocked out, if he had genuinely fallen asleep, or if it was a combination of the two.

"Natsu" Jellal murmured, overcome with shock at what the young dragon slayer, with whom he had never had a particularly close relationship, had just done. From a corner of his mind, he heard the cheers of the crowd and was thankful for the tactic working so far, but the rest of his mind began the mad scramble of figuring out how to keep the ruse up. Just as he felt he had a solution, something occurred, shocking him to the point where he almost stumbled back a couple steps.

Natsu's body had began to glow, and, when he cast his gaze around, he saw that the same was holding true for Gajeel and Wendy. What was happening? Just as he felt he couldn't be astonished any further, he watched as they all began to be lifted into the air. Just as his mind began to set into a full-fledged panic, an ice cold wave of calm settled over his thought process. It had to be the Anima. All his Earthland friends carried magic inherently within their bodies, so the Anima, in it's efforts to remove Edolas of magic, must be sucking them up as well since it was incapable of removing the magic from their systems. Jellal felt the tenseness in his shoulders dissipate and a small, sad smile crossed his features as he realized that he would likely never see his guild again.

* * *

"What's going on?" Lucy screamed. Her body was glowing, for pity's sake, and not in healthy way she always wanted it to. She looked desperately over at Gray, wondering if he had any idea what was happening to them, but he looked as shocked as she did. Their worry was assuaged by Carla, who quickly pointed out that they were being sucked up into the Anima.

Letting loose a grin, Lucy looked over the landscape that was gradually shrinking with each passing moment. "I see! The Anima is sucking up all the magic in Edolas, so it's going to take us, too!" she exclaimed. Lost in her focus on the ground below them, she didn't notice Natsu creep up behind her.

"Lucy, Happy!" he shouted, startling her from her reverie. Smiling broadly, she turned to face him.

"Natsu! You're alright!" It was strange how relieved she felt at seeing his face. He was her best friend, to be true, and she cared for him, but it wasn't until she saw him again that she realized just how much she did. Making a mental note to explore the emotion she felt bubbling within her later, she began to "swim" towards Natsu, torn between smacking him for making her worry and giving him a hug to make sure he was really in one piece, but was halted by a familiar voice from below. Looking back down, she was surprised to see Edo-Lucy and Edo-Natsu with the rest of their guild.

"Magic is really disappearing from this world?" she asked, and Lucy was surprised to see an emotion that looked like fear on her face. "Everything is going to be gone!"

Lucy watched as the people below her began to panic, and she struggled to find something that would be able to resolve their fears, but found herself at a loss, until Gray spoke up from beside her.

"Don't look so disappointed! You're really saying you can't have a guild without magic? As long as you have your friends, that's your guild right there!" He reminded them, and his words seemed to work. Lucy was happy to see the relief and realization move across their features. They would be all right. They were Fairy Tail, after all!

Laughing, Lucy raised her hand and began to wave, though she was startled by a loud exclamation from Natsu. He was clutching his throat and seemed to be in pain!

"Natsu!" she shouted, her eyes widening in worry as she saw that both Wendy and Gajeel seemed to be in the same situation as him. Lucy began to move towards him once more, but was stopped as his gaze turned on her. It was small, barely there, but he allowed a small smirk to cross his face before giving her a wink and returning to his dramatics. Confused, Lucy huffed and rolled her eyes, figuring that he would explain what he was up to later, before turning and resuming her goodbye's.

She kept waving until the Anima swallowed them up, tears running down her cheeks. Sniffing a little, she turned and moved close enough to finally envelop Natsu in a hug, both to make sure he was really there as well as to comfort herself at the sudden loss of her new friends. Pulling back, the pair grinned and stared at each other for a touch longer than was strictly necessary, before simultaneously blushing and looking away. Backing away, Lucy grabbed ahold of Natsu's hand and turned her attention to the flashing tunnel before them, their road home, and she was made even happier to feel the small squeeze of comfort from Natsu's hand. Yes, she would definitely have to do some thinking once she got home.

All was moving smoothly as they traveled through the Anima until a sudden force buffeted into them. Surprised at the sudden attack, Lucy lost her grip on Natsu's hand as they both whirled, trying to find the source of what felt almost like the magical equivalent of a hurricane, but they couldn't see anything but the swirling, glowing strands of magic surrounding them.

Lucy turned to look back at Natsu, but was shocked to see him drifting further from her. She couldn't quite explain why, but a sudden sense of panic enveloped her. Lucy couldn't shake the feeling that, if she didn't grab a hold of him soon, she would never seem him again.

"Natsu!" she shouted, but her voice was drowned out by a sudden roaring that filled the pathway. She watched as he turned and looked at her, a similar sense of panic entering his gaze as he took stock of the distance that was growing between them. As one, they began to move towards each other, and were just barely close enough to grab each other's hands when another tsunami of magic overtook them. The light intensified and they lost track of their comrades. The only thing Lucy could feel was Natsu's arms, which were suddenly wrapped around her, as hers were around him, she realized. A small corner of her mind wondered when that had happened, though the majority of her mental facilities were focused on the smaller tunnel that had opened without warning on the side of the Anima, and the magic was sweeping them towards it!

Natsu felt her arms tighten around his waist, and lifting his head he saw what had given her cause for such fear. Desperately, he tried to fight the magical current that was sweeping them along, but despite his best efforts they were still being swept along. They moved through the mouth of the tunnel and watched in shock as it closed behind them, sealing them in sudden darkness and silence, with only the sounds of their breathing to inform them that they were still alive.

Lucy looked up at Natsu, or, at least, tried to. Swallowing heavily, she leaned her head forward to rest in the crook of his neck, no longer caring of the implications. She felt his arms tighten around her waist. "Natsu?" she whispered.

She felt him start a little at her name. No doubt he had been half expecting that they wouldn't be able to speak, as she had. There was a movement against the side of her head, which she took to be him looking down at her before he cleared his throat.

"I don't know what's going to happen" he admitted, his voice sounding sheepish. She pulled back to look up at him, frowning worriedly, before she realized that she could actually see him.

"Wha-" she began before she swiveled her head, looking to the side where a dim light could be seen growing closer very quickly. Swallowing heavily again, Lucy looked up at Natsu again and managed to summon a weak smile. "I won't let go if you won't" she murmured.

Natsu nodded his head in response before looking back to what seemed to be their destination. "We'll get out of this, don't worry, Luce" he murmured back before closing his eyes as the light overtook them. There was a sense of free fall, like when your stomach lurches just as the roller coaster falls down the hill. Natsu was vaguely aware of twisting so that he could try to cushion Lucy's fall, and then he wasn't aware of anything else.

* * *

Tsukino Usagi sat at the small table with her friends. The sun had just set and they were laughing and munching on sweets that Makato had been nice enough to bring. The girls were enjoying the peace that had ensued since the defeat of Prince Demand and Wiseman before they had to go back to school in a week.

"Ami-channnn!" Mina whined half-heartedly while everyone else laughed at the small genius who had just tried to get them to study..again. "We're still on break and we have another week to go before we need to study!" she pointed out.

Rini laughed and jumped on Ami's back. "Amiiiii can we please not studyyyy?" she asked, using that face which Usagi was well aware meant she would get whatever she wanted. As if on cue, Ami's shoulders sagged as she caved, causing all of the other girls to burst into laughter once more.

Their laughter was cut off by the sudden surge of power they felt coming from the north. "What the hell?" Rei muttered as they all jumped to their feet. Throwing the door open, they ran outside, heading for the source of the power, their little slumber party all but forgotten. As they neared Juuban Park, which seemed to be the epicenter, they were shocked to see a writhing mass of clouds above, before a flare of light descended from the center.

As the light descended into the middle of the copse of trees located in a more isolated region of the park, the girls were thrown to their knees by the sudden shaking of the ground.

"Is it an earthquake?" Mako asked

"No," said Ami, who already had her computer out, "It's a superficial tremor, not caused by plate tectonics. Likely whatever that light was had enough mass to cause impact tremors"

Usagi nodded, her previous levity forgotten. "Everyone, transform. We don't know what this is, but we're going to find out" she commanded, inwardly raging at the sudden interruption to what was supposed to be a peaceful, fun-filled vacation.

Multi-colored flares of light appeared in the dark forest, and they disappeared just as fast. Where the six young girls once stood were six Sailor Scouts, annoyed at the interruption of their night and ready to fight if needed. With a single, collective nod, they raced into the darkness of the trees, looking for that which had fallen.

The trees whipped by them, smacking into their skin and leaving welts and scratches, despite their attempts towards prevention. The stinging was ignored, though, in light of the gravity of the situation. The copse of trees seemed to go on and on, and the scouts were beginning to wonder if they had imagined the entire event when the trees suddenly opened into a clearing, and what they saw there shocked them to the point of muteness.

Lying in a small crater, not nearly as large as the force of the tremors would have indicated, was a young man and woman dressed in outlandish clothes. Their clothing was torn and burnt, revealing scratched, dirtied, and bruised skin. When the gray pallor of their faces was registered by Usagi, her eyes widened and she rushed down into the crater, ignoring the protests and startled exclamations of her scouts. "Mercury!" she called over her shoulder, "They need medical help!"

This seemed to startle the dark-haired girl out of her contemplations, as she quickly followed her leader. She was nervous, to be sure. These people had, for all appearances, just fallen out of the sky, after all. However, she wasn't one to deny medical assistance to those who needed it, despite the circumstances. She was soon followed by the rest of their little group who came forward to see what they could do to help.

Ami knelt beside the unconscious pair and shakingly reached her hand forward to take their pulses. She may want to be a doctor some day, but, despite all her studying, she couldn't help but feel as though she wasn't ready to deal with the responsibilities associated with the position, especially if they didn't turn out to be alive. Gulping, there was a moment where she couldn't seem to feel any sort of heartbeat, but then a wave of relief swept through her as she felt the slow, but strong pulsing of blood through both of their veins. Nodding, she sat back and looked at Sailor Moon.

"We need to get them somewhere where they'll be protected from the elements. For all appearances, it seems as though they aren't anything more than asleep, though I don't think we should take them to a hospital."

"Why not?" Minako asked from behind her, to which Rei rolled her eyes

"Well think about it," Mako responded, "what exactly are we supposed to tell the doctors when they ask where these two came from? And why we knew where to find them in the middle of an isolated wood? And why we were out here to begin with? They would ask too many questions that would lead to too many problems."

Nodding, Usagi looked up at all of them, "My house is closest and my parents are visiting my mother's friend in Nagoya with Shingo. They should be back in a few days which should give us enough time to figure out what to do."

The girl's nodded their agreement to the plan and broke into pairs to carry the strangers out of the park. As they exited the grove of trees, they came across Tuxedo Kamen who was running towards them, followed by Luna and Artemis. Upon seeing the unconscious pair, the three of them were brought up short and looked to Sailor Moon for answers.

Sighing, Usagi held up a hand, "We're taking them back to my house. I'll explain everything once we're out of the open" she said with a soft smile. With a nod, Tuxedo Kamen escorted them through the night, curiosity burning within his mind. Who were these two? And where did they come from?

* * *

**Ello there, this is the first chapter of my new fanfiction! As you can tell, the premise is the question of what would happen if something went wrong in the transfer from Edolas to Earthland. For clarification, I write along the lines of the Sailor Moon Manga, if anyone was wondering at the sudden strength Usagi seemed to display. As anyone who has read the Manga knows, she is a much stronger character than what the anime portrayed her to be (a fact that rather irritated me, even if I like the anime). In any case, I hope you will enjoy what I have in store for you and I would highly encourage you all to take a minute of your time and just jot down your thoughts on the story so far in the review box below! If you enjoy this, might I also suggest my other work in progress, "For Better or Worse", which is another Fairy Tail Fanfic.**


	2. Chapter 2

Everything was fuzzy to Lucy, if fuzzy could be used to describe it. Kinda like that feeling you have when you're smack dab in the middle of a cold. Nothing is clear, eyesight is blurry, touch is mediocre at best, smell is nonexistent, and, where smell goes, taste follows. Her tongue felt swollen and covered in moss, and her ears roared as though they were under water. In fact, the only thing she was sure of was faint whispers above her and an almost oppressive warmth beside her.

There was one cause she knew for oppressive warmth that would be with her in sleep and so, letting loose a low growl, Lucy pulled herself upright and let loose a mighty kick, with which she was happy to feel the warmth disappear. Rubbing her blurred eyes with the heels of her palms, she began to shout.

"Natsu, you pervert! How many times have I told you not to crawl into bed with me! And who the hell is breaking into my apartment this time!?" Blinking her eyes to bring them back into focus, she was startled to see the shocked and slightly apprehensive gazes of strangers in her room, that is, until she realized it wasn't her room. Letting out a loud shriek, she ignored the grumbling Natsu (who was on the floor trying to pull himself together after his rough wakeup call) and dove into an unoccupied corner of the room, trying to put as much distance between herself and the strange people as possible.

"Who are you?!" she shouted, "Why am I here? Where is here for that matter?!" she began to ramble, her fist wrapping around the first weapon that came to hand, which happened to be a plush toy, to her dismay. She gulped and bit her lip, before trying to scowl in an attempt to look intimidating.

From the floor, she heard Natsu grumble, "Sheesh, Luce, there's no need to kick every damn time," She watched in relief as he gradually began to return the the land of the living.

With that fact in mind, Lucy turned a triumphant gaze to the strangers, "Alright kidnappers, you're gonna get it now that he's wakin-" her voice trailed off as she watched the confusion flit across their faces. They all shared a glance with each other before a short blonde (with amazingly long hair! she noted) stepped forward.

"What are you talking about? We're not kidnappers." she said, pursing her lips and putting her hands on her hips in slight irritation.

"Well who are you then? And why are Natsu and I here?" Lucy retorted, her voice a bit softer, though with no less amounts of suspicion.

From behind the blonde, a girl in a red miniskirt stepped forward, annoyance flashing across her features. "We could ask you the same things!" she said. It was then that Lucy noticed that they all seemed to be in some sort of uniform. Frowning, Lucy lowered her fighting stance and walked cautiously over to Natsu, grabbing his bicep and helping him to his feet without taking her gaze off them all.

"Are you with the Council?" she asked. The Magic Council was the only organization she could think of that would have such strict uniform policies.

Frowning, a tall brunette spoke from where she was leaning against the wall, "What council?"

"The Magic Council, of course. What other council is there?" Natsu muttered, absently rubbing his side where Lucy had kicked him.

"Guys," a small voice popped up. Lucy's vision was drawn to a small girl who stood in the corner with a rather tall, formally dressed gentleman. An idle thought passed through her mind that these people had the strangest uniforms she had seen, but she squashed the thought in light of the more serious situation at hand.

The Scouts also turned to look at Chibi-Usa as she spoke up, "Perhaps we should all take a seat and let each side explain." She suggested hesitantly.

Usagi felt a small smile turn the corners of her mouth upward before she nodded. Turning back to the strange couple, Usagi relaxed, trying to let them know she wasn't a threat, "The suggestion sits well with me. I don't think randomly shouting questions around is going to help anything at this point. I'm Usagi, and you are?" she inquired, ignoring the faint protestations from behind her. Her Scouts were well-intentioned, if not as trusting as their leader.

Lucy licked her dry lips and shared a gaze with Natsu. With an almost imperceptible nod of his head, they both sat down on the floor before the group. Both were still no where near recovered from their ordeal in Edolas, and they knew that taking on what looked to be seven soldier-type figures would likely be a bad idea at this point.

"I'm Natsu Dragneel, and this is my partner, Lucy Heartfilia" Natsu responded, surprising Lucy slightly as he extended the metaphorical olive branch before she could. Lucy could almost feel the tension in the room dissipate as all of the occupants physically relaxed their postures.

"God this thing is uncomfortable" Usagi muttered, and Lucy was momentarily blinded by a flash of light. When her vision cleared, she was surprised to see Usagi standing there in pajamas covered in little rabbits. She suddenly looked much younger than she had initially, though Lucy was further confused at the exclamations everyone else gave out. Tilting her head, she grinned at Usagi.

"You use Re-Quip? We have a friend who does that too!" she said. Usagi just tilted her head to the side like a confused puppy.

"Re-quip? What's that?"

Lucy felt her grin fade a little. Looking at Natsu, she leaned towards him and murmured, "How can they not know what re-quipping is?" to which he responded with a vague shrug.

A series of sighs filled the room, followed by several more bright flashes, though Lucy noticed the man in the corner merely removed his top hat and mask. All the girls were similar to Usagi, looking years younger than they just had, and all in their pajamas. 'Ah' she thought, just barely managing to repress a blush, 'That might be why Mr. Formality over there chose not to change, if he's the same as them and can only re-quip that one outfit.'

Usagi looked at the others and gave a nod, and one by one they went around the circle saying their names.

"My name is Ami"

"Makato"

"Mina here!"

"I'm Rei"

"And I'm Usagi, too! They all call me Chibi-Usa" The little girl said. Lucy found herself biting her lips in order to keep from grinning. Chibi-Usa had the same spirit as Wendy, after all, one that just cried out for everyone to adore her.

Usagi looked expectantly at the man in the corner and, after heaving a sigh, he spoke as well. "My name is Mamoru"

"Well then, now that introductions are out of the way, how about you two explain how you got here and we'll explain what happened between when we found you and when you woke up just now?" Usagi suggested, her voice surprisingly peppy.

Chewing on her lip as she thought, Lucy shared another glance with Natsu before looking back at the rest. "Before we do that, could you tell us where we are?"

"You came here without knowing where you were going?" Rei asked dryly. Lucy felt a blush cross her cheeks as she realized how silly it must seem from their perspective.

"It's not that, we didn't really have much of a choice in the matter, and this is just sort of where we ended up it seems" Natsu muttered, a pout crossing his face. Lucy rolled her eyes at his whining and ignored him.

"Please, it might help us with our explanation"

"Of course, of course. You're in Tokyo" Usagi answered happily, before feeling her eyebrows draw together at their clear confusion, "You know, Tokyo...Japan?"

Lucy bit her lip again, her blush intensifying, "Where is Japan?" she murmured.

Even Ami was disbelief on her normally stoic face. "Umm, Asia? On Earth?" She answered, trying to help them.

At the word "Earth" Lucy seemed to perk up a little, her eyes widening before looking at Natsu. "Do..do you think this place is like Edolas?" she asked him

He reached up and scratched the back of his neck before shrugging, "Don't know. It might be, considering we were in the Anima when we got lost"

Lucy seemed about to retreat into her thoughts, and the group could almost see the wheels in her mind begin to turn. A rather loud cough startled her from her thoughts and she looked up before realizing that she had almost forgotten her promise of an explanation. Glancing at Natsu again, she sighed and realized he probably wouldn't be helping much. Granted, words and expressions weren't exactly his strong suits.

Licking her lips again, Lucy nodded again and began, "Well, like we said, I'm Lucy and he's Natsu. We're members of the mage guild, Fairy Tail in Fiores, which is located in Earthland. If what I've just come to think is true, then Earthland is a different world from this. We were trying to get home to Earthland from Edolas, yet another world, when we were separated from our teammates in the Anima, the portal that took us to Edolas in the first place. I don't know how or why it happened, but we were swept aside by a surge of magic into what you could call a side tunnel. It was really dark, and then a dim light began to appear. It felt as though we were falling and the next thing we knew, we woke up here, with you."

To say that the group looked shocked would be a vast understatement. They were absolutely floored, with expressions ranging from wonder to humor to sheer disbelief.

"Y-you're joking, right?" Rei asked, "You can't honestly expect us to believe you're from a different world?"

"It's not that far fetched a concept" a voice piped up from near Lucy's elbow. With a surprised shriek, she leapt away from the noise, ending up sprawled in Natsu's lap. Looking for the source, she was further shocked to see two cats sitting there, looking at her with what she swore to be amusement.

"No way! There are Exceeds here, too?" Natsu piped up, his signature grin appearing on his face. The cats looked at each other before looking back at him.

"What are Exceeds?" the darker one asked as Lucy sheepishly crawled off of Natsu back into her spot.

"That's right, if they are Exceeds then they wouldn't have any knowledge of it" she pointed out to Natsu, before looking back at the felines, "Exceeds are a race native to Edolas, though several years ago they sent their children through the Anima, supposedly to Earthland, though I suppose some might have traveled the same route we did and ended up here" she trailed off, her brows drawing together in thought.

The white feline cleared it's voice and spoke, indicating it was a male, "Well, despite any apparent resemblance, I believe I can assure you that Luna and I are not of these Exceeds, as you call them. We know very well where we come from and it isn't this Edolas place.

Lucy was about to respond when the door opened into the room. Startled, she looked up to see Usagi and Makoto walk in, which surprised her as she hadn't seen the two leave the room to begin with. When she saw what they carried, however, all shock was forgotten as both hers and Natsu's stomachs let out loud rumbles. Usagi carried a plate of snacks and Makoto carried several glasses of water, which reminded Lucy of how parched she was.

"After hearing your story, I thought you two might like something to eat and drink, and everyone else might as well" Usagi offered by way of explanation.

Lucy ducked her head and blushed as her stomach let out another noise "Thank you. It is much appreciated" she murmured before taking a bowl of the simple rice from the plate Usagi had set down in the middle of the floor. Natsu wasn't far behind her as he snatched his up, digging into the food with relish. Sighing and rolling her eyes, she smiled apologetically at the group. "Please forgive my partner's manners. He tends to forget himself when he is hun-" she trailed off at the sudden laughter that bubbled from Ami, who was quickly joined by the rest of them while Usagi sought to control a furious blush.

"It's just like Usagi!" Rei burst out before dissolving into laughter once more.

"Are Natsu and Usagi related?" Makoto asked, a wide grin appearing on her face.

The rest didn't bother to comment as they gradually got their laughter under control, and Lucy couldn't seem to help the small smile that appeared on her face. It may be a different world, but it seemed these people were family, just like her guild, and that, more than anything else, succeeded in finally putting her at ease.

Rolling her eyes again, Lucy reached over and slapped the back of Natsu's head. "What do you say?" she asked, giving him an expectant look.

"Shan yu" Natsu responded automatically without bothering to swallow. Knowing she wouldn't get anything better out of him, Lucy turned her attention to her rice and began to eat diligently after downing half her glass of water.

Once everyone had finished their food, Usagi made short work of gathering the dishes, setting them in a pile near the door where she could take care of them in a moment. "Well, then, it's getting rather late" she pointed out, covering a yawn with one hand, "Perhaps we should turn in and try to figure out our next steps in the morning." Lucy nodded, feeling the exhaustion of the day building within her as well. Looking around, Usagi's gaze finally settled on Mamoru. "Mamo-chan?" she asked, knowing he probably wouldn't want to leave them alone with two strangers, no matter how peaceful they seemed, "Would you and Natsu be against sleeping down in the living room while we all sleep up here?" she asked.

Lucy watched first in curiosity, then in realization, as his face seemed to soften at her words. 'So that's how it was with them' she thought, a soft smile appearing on her face, before it faded marginally. Despite the logic of Usagi's words, she still felt hesitant to separate from Natsu so soon after coming to a new place, though sharing the same room was out of the question. Looking over at Natsu, she noticed he seemed to have a similar worry, though he probably wasn't as resigned as she was. After all, it wasn't uncommon for him to slip into her bed in the middle of the night anyways, and he probably didn't understand why the distinction between boy's and girl's room needed to be made (though, based on some of his behavior lately, she wondered if he understood more than he let on). Giving him a reassuring smile, she nodded and stood, moving over to where Usagi was trying to pick up the dirty dishes.

"Please, let me help you. It's the least I can do" she said, looking down on the girl. Lucy hadn't noticed before how small Usagi was. It wasn't like Lucy was a giant, but she easily loomed over her fellow blonde. Yet, though Lucy didn't feel it as much right now, she had felt a commanding presence and power radiating from the petite girl, a power that was completely at odds with her overall appearance. Putting her contemplations from her mind right now, Lucy followed Usagi down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"I hope you realize we still intend to give you an explanation" Usagi said as she set the dishes in the sink. Lucy smiled and nodded in reply.

"To be honest, I wasn't about to let you get out of it, I just felt as though the second half of explanations might be easier to handle and give with well-rested minds" she said. Usagi laughed and walked to a closet in the hall, pulling down several spare blankets and pillows and laying them on the couch, figuring Natsu and Mamoru could figure out sleeping arrangements on their own. Lucy and Usagi turned to see Mamoru who had come down the stairs behind them. He looked rather uncomfortable, and, understanding a little, Lucy smiled and winked at Usagi before walking back upstairs and into Usagi's room, where she found Natsu polishing off whatever leftovers he could get his hands on.

Downstairs, Usagi sighed and wrapped her arms around Mamoru's waist, who followed suit almost instantaneously. "I know you don't care for strangers," she said, "but try to give them a shot. I don't sense any sort of evil coming from them" she murmured.

She felt, more than heard the soft chuckle he emitted, "The same goes for me. I'm just hesitant to trust them," he whispered back, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "Maybe I'm just being jealous and not wanting another guy to sleep under your roof" he half-teased.

Usagi just grinned back up at him. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. They haven't really said it outright, but I'm fairly sure those two are more than just partners. Now, I set out some pillows and blankets over there. I'll send Natsu down and you two can figure out who gets the couch and who gets the floor." she leaned up and gave him a quick kiss before dashing up the stairs, leaving him in a bit better of spirits than he had come down in. Turning, Mamoru grabbed a pillow and blanket and quickly claimed the couch before the other guy could, and his haste seemed to have been a good idea considering the footsteps that quickly came up behind him.

"Why do you get the couch?" he heard Natsu whine. Turning, Mamoru raised his eyebrows as he looked down at the man who seemed to be about his age, and only a little shorter.

"Because I was here first" he responds calmly, if a little childishly. Mamoru watches in slight amusement as Natsu grumbles something about him being just like an emotion (which confused the dark-haired gent to no end) and snatched another pillow and blanket, making a bed for him on the floor. Within moments of crawling under the blanket, soft snores were heard and Mamoru wondered at his ability to fall asleep so quickly. Crawling under his own blanket, he was positive he wouldn't be able to sleep at all with a stranger so close yet, within moments, he was lost in the abyss of dreams as well.

Upstairs, there was some slight scuffling as they all tried to find a spot where they could sleep comfortably, but, once the light was out, sleep was quick to overtake the girls as well. Meanwhile, two pairs of eyes glowed in the moonlight that shone through Usagi's curtains.

"What do you make of it?" Luna whispered to Artemis

"I really don't know" he responded, "If they are what they say, then I don't think they are an enemy. I sense a power coming from the both of them, but it doesn't seem to be dark in any way. I suppose the best thing to do is wait and see, at this point."

Luna nodded before curling up at the end of Usagi's bed. "I suppose so" she murmured, allowing sleep to overtake her as well, knowing that if Artemis was truly worried, he wouldn't be following suit. Just as she fully succumbed to the darkness, she felt a small relief flow through her as she felt Artemis curl up next to her. If he was able to sleep, then she was fairly sure these strange newcomers wouldn't pose any real threat if they tried.


	3. Chapter 3

Natsu tossed and turned in his makeshift bed. Despite the relatively unexpected comfort of the carpet on which he slept, the sheer unfamiliarity of his surroundings was keeping him on edge, causing him to wake up only an hour after initially falling asleep. Strange scents, sounds, sights, they all swam through his mind and his mind was swirling so much from the sensations that it felt as though he were stuck on a train.

With a grunt of annoyance, Mamoru sat up and glared at the young dragon slayer through the darkness. "Will you be quiet?" he hissed, trying to keep his temper. It was strange to him, how irritated this Natsu person seemed to make him. Mamoru was usually fairly adept at keeping his temper under control but, with only a few movements, he was ready to lay out and punch Natsu.

Natsu turned over and closed his eyes, "Shut up, Ice brai-" Natsu cut off and frowned, waiting a couple seconds before speaking, "Sorry, force of habit" he finally explained, before sitting up with a sigh. Gritting his teeth, Natsu swallowed some of his pride, "I can go sleep in the kitchen, if that will help" he muttered, not liking the feeling of giving in. However, Natsu figured that, if Lucy seemed to be getting along with these people, he may as well try, too.

Heaving a sigh of his own, Mamoru sat up and rubbed his eyes, "Look, it's not that I don't trust you, just that, well"

"You don't trust me, I get it. You're just wound up and trying to protect your friends" Natsu finished for him. "If it makes you feel better, I don't want to leave Lucy alone with a bunch of strangers, either, no matter how nice they seem to be." Natsu frowned and looked out the living room window. Blinking a little in confusion, he turned to look at the dark-haired man. "Do you not have stars in this world?" he asked, curious

Caught off guard, Mamoru stared at the dragon slayer for a couple moments before clearing his throat. "Err, no. We have stars, you just can't see them because of the light pollution"

"What's light pollution?"

Mamoru reached up and scratched the back of his neck, "It's, um. It's sort of like if you're standing inside a brightly lit house, and you look outside when it's night out, but you can't really see anything because the lights are too bright inside." he answered, feeling somewhat proud of himself for coming up with that analogy.

"Oh." Natsu responded, "So this town is so brightly lit that you can't even see the stars? Isn't that a bit weird? I mean, what's the point of all these lights when everyone's asleep?"

"Well, um" Mamoru actually found himself rather flummoxed. It actually was a bit strange, now that he thought about it. A bit sad too, really, to go to sleep at night without being able to see the stars. "You know, I guess it is a bit weird" he finally said quietly, "But I guess every world has its own quirks."

"I guess so"

Mamoru noticed that he was tapping his fingers against his chest and put in a conscious effort to cease the action. "So, umm. What's it like, where you come from?" he asked. He had a feeling that neither of them would be able to sleep tonight, and so figured that perhaps finding more about the character of these strangers would be a good way to pass the time.

"Umm. I'm probably not the best one to ask. Luce's always been better with words and describing things than me. She's trying to write a novel, you know" he said, sheepishly.

Mamoru snorted a little, "Maybe, but she's up there, you're down here, and I'm not about to go wake the girls up just so your girlfriend can answer my question. Rei, Makoto, and Mina would both have my hide if I tried to and, trust me, you don't want those three after you."

Natsu squirmed a little in embarrassment, "Luce isn't my girlfriend"

"Really?" Mamoru sounded genuinely surprised, "But you two seem very, err, close. You had your arms wrapped around each other when we first found you, you know" he pointed out, half of him not believing Natsu.

"Well, Luce and I have always been close. We're partners, and she's my best friend. II would do anything to keep her safe, but she's never been my girlfriend." he mumbled a bit ruefully.

Mamoru raised his eyebrow but let the matter slide, "Either way, she's up there and you're down here. Besides, you're the one I asked" he pointed out.

Natsu grimaced before sighing and running a hand through his hair, "Well, Earthland is very..magical, I guess you could say" he began, "While most people don't have much magic, mages aren't exactly rare. There's magic shops everywhere, and just about everything involves magic in some way. Luce and I belong to Fairy Tail, a mage's guild in Magnolia"

"A guild for mages?" Mamoru asked incredulously, "What exactly does that mean? Are the two of you mages?"

Natsu nodded, "Yeah. Luce can summon Celestial Spirits and I'm the Fire Dragon Slayer" His eyebrows drew together in slight confusion as he heard Mamoru sputter a little, but he continued on, "A mage's guild is basically a place where people can post job requests. The mages who're in that guild can then choose from the different requests and earn money from the reward after completing the job. Umm, mages-for-hire, I guess you could say. Luce and I are on a team, which means we work together most of the time."

After getting himself under control, Mamoru stared at Natsu as though he had a second head. A part of his brain heard the rest of the dragon slayer's explanation and filed it away, but majority of his thoughts were focused on what he had said before, "What exactly do you mean when you say Celestial Spirits and Dragon Slayer?" he asked.

"Well, um. Err, I guess I've never had to explain either of those before. Well, Lucy's a Celestial Mage, which means she uses the keys she wears on her belt to open gates and summon the spirits she has contracts with through. They do most of the fighting for her, but, even though she's technically their master, she calls them her friends. Luce is a really kind person" he said quietly, smiling a little before clearing his throat. "Luce isn't the strongest fighter, physically, but she can hold her own. Out of the pair of us, though, she's definitely the brains. She always wants to have a plan of some sort, but I'm a more for just charging in and seeing how things go. Like I said, I'm the Fire Dragon Slayer. My father is the one who taught me my magic until he disappeared several years ago, along with the other dragons, it looks like."

Mamoru felt confusion welling up within him once again, an unfamiliar and rather unwelcome feeling. "What do you mean along with the other dragons?"

Natsu simply gave him a strange look, "Well, yeah, it wouldn't make sense for Igneel to stick around while all the other dragons disappear, I guess"

"So..you're saying your father is a dragon?" he asked, his voice incredulous again

"Well, not my real father. I don't remember my birth parents. Igneel always said he found me in the forest, and he was the one who raised me until he disappeared. That's when I managed to make my way to Fairy Tail. A few years later, I met Luce in Hargeon and brought her back after she said she wanted to join Fairy Tail. It was funny, actually, the first time she summoned Taurus, I thought he was a monster and attacked him. She was so pissed at me. She's always pissed at me, for that matter" he laughed a little.

Mamoru found himself sitting up in shock. This guy just seemed to ramble on and on, moving from one great revelation to the next without allowing the first time to settle in. Reaching up, Mamoru ran a hand down his face before asking about the last thing that had caught his attention. "By Taurus, do you mean the constellation of the bull?"

"Well, yeah. The guy's a bit of a pervert, though. And then Luce went and discovered that Loki, who was one of our guild members, was actually Leo! I never saw it coming, to be honest. He's one of her more protective spirits, even if he does flirt with her every chance he gets" Natsu growled a little under his breath.

"But...they're just constellations. A bunch of stars millions of billions of kilometers apart. They aren't beings" he muttered.

Natsu just shrugged, "Take it up with Luce. She knows more about it than I do" when his stomach gave a little growl, Natsu sighed, "You wouldn't happen to know if there's any matches around, would you?" he asked.

Mamoru frowned and scratched his head in confusion. What could he want with matches, after all? "Um, I'm sure Usako has some around here somewhere. I've just never really had a need to find where they are"

"Damn" Natsu muttered before lying back down. "Well, alright, I told you about Earthland, you tell me about this place" he demanded.

Mamoru felt somewhat uneasy. After all, where did you even begin when describing an alien world? "Well, magic isn't exactly common here."

"But you still have magic, right?"

Mamoru cast a slightly annoyed glance at him for the interruption, "Well there's magic and there's magic." At Natsu's confused look, he sighed and ran a hand down his face. "There's a lot of people who call themselves magicians, but it's really no more than tricks. Sleight of hand, illusion, that sort of thing. Then there's stuff like what Usako can do-" He suddenly stopped talking and winced. He hadn't meant to say so much about her, after all.

"Well, we already saw that. She was re-quipping, after all"

"Again with that. What the hell is re-quipping?"

"Umm. Well, Erza would be better at this, but it's basically the ability to change out different armors, weapons, and clothing at will"

"Erza?"

"She's another teammate of ours. She's scary, too. You definitely don't want to make her mad" he shuddered a little.

Mamoru cleared his throat a little, "I, uh, I see. Well, in any case, I don't think we use this 're-quipping' thing you seem to be stuck on. At least, not to the extent you've described. We each have the one set we can change into, our uniform, if you will." he explained, looking down at his crumpled suit with slight disgust. He really wanted out of the thing, after all.

"Ah. So why are you still wearing that, then? Unless that isn't your uniform? But then why would you voluntarily wear a suit?" Natsu looked horrified at the idea.

"Well, it was sort of late when you guys arrived. I was already in bed" Mamoru seemed to look almost sheepish.

"So?"

"So, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to transform out of my suit."

"Why?"

"Why?!" Mamoru stared at the pink-haired moron in disbelief. "Because I sleep in my boxers, idiot, and right now I'm at my girlfriend's house where she's just upstairs surrounded by a bunch of teenage girls!"

Natsu glared at him, "Well, why didn't you say so to begin with? And don't call me moron, you pansy!"

Mamoru made a rather unflattering gesture, "Is everyone in Earthland this irritating?" he growled. Natsu looked almost contemplative, throwing the dark-haired man for a loop with all of his rapidly changing expressions.

"Well, Lucy sometimes wonders if it's a Fairy Tail thing, but she usually says it's mostly Gray and I"

"Gray?" Mamoru was feeling a strange sense of deja vu wash over him

"He's the village idiot who somehow ended up being on our team." Natsu grumbled.

Mamoru wondered why he felt as though he were dealing with a three year old, and surprisingly felt a pang of sympathy for the new blonde upstairs. Trying to maintain his facade and not snap at the moron, Mamoru turned his gaze to the window and suddenly stood up, his eyes going wide. "SHIT" he exclaimed before going running over and grabbing the startled Natsu by the arm. "Help me grab these pillows and blankets, Usako's parents just came home early" he hissed.

* * *

**If I must be honest, I wasn't expecting to do that last bit, but as I was writing it, the inspiration suddenly hit me. I would love to know your thoughts, as well! I don't have a beta for this story, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes. If you see anything huge, please (PLEASE) leave a review detailing it so I can fix it ASAP. Stay tuned until next time and, in the interim, please feel free to take a look at my other Fairy Tail Fan Fic, "For Better or Worse"!**


	4. Chapter 4

Natsu blinked in confusion, honestly not understanding the other man's panic. "So?" he asked.

Mamoru turned a panicked, and slightly annoyed gaze towards the dragon slayer, never pausing in his efforts for a moment "Look, I don't care if you don't understand right now, and I promise I'll explain later, but please, PLEASE, just gather your blankets and run into Usako's room now" He begged, his face flushed at having to lower his pride to the extent of begging. That, or he was furious at Natsu's idiocy.

Natsu sighed, seeming to catch onto the other man's panic, if not the reason for it, and he quickly grabbed his bedding and raced up the stairs, Mamoru hot on his heels. They barged into Usagi's room just as Natsu heard the door open downstairs, and watched as Mamoru quickly held up a finger to silence the girls' startled protests as he woke them up. Despite himself, Natsu was impressed how quickly they sobered and tensed, as though waiting for an enemy to barge in any second. Whatever else they might be, they didn't seem to be strangers to battle or war-like situations (which also struck him as a bit odd, to be honest).

"Usako, you're parents just came home" Mamoru hissed as he pushed the surprisingly quiet dragon slayer into the closet. He only had time to see Usagi's panicked stare before he jumped in and shut the door on them both.

"What do we do?" Usagi hissed, already hearing her parents walk up the stairs. Technically, she was supposed to be staying at Rei's while her parents were in Nagoya, so she wasn't sure if they would check on her or not. Luckily, Ami could always be counted on to keep a cool head.

"Mako-chan, hand me the flashlight in Usagi's drawer. Everyone, get in a circle, quick!" Lucy hesitated for a moment, but quickly followed orders when she noticed everyone else doing the same. "Mina, when Usagi's parents walk by, grab the lamp and open the door. Be sure to look as though you're going to use it to defend yourself" Lucy felt her eyes widen as she caught onto what Ami was trying to pull off. From the grins that crossed the rest of the girls' faces, it seems they had figured it out, too."

"Way to go, Ami-chan!" Rei whispered, reaching over to teasingly ruffle the girl's short hair.

The dark-haired girl settled for rolling her eyes. "When they realize that we are all in here, the story is that Usagi forgot a couple things and it was dark by the time she found them, so we all decided to spend the night here rather than go back to Rei's at night"

They all tensed for a moment when they heard the footsteps coming up the stairs, but then everyone leapt into action, causing Lucy to watch in amazement as the entire plot unfolded like clockwork. The only hitch occurred when Usagi's parents noticed her presence and wondered who she was. Then, it was Ami to the rescue again with a quickly devised cover story of Lucy being an exchange student from America. Whatever either of those things were, Usagi's parent seemed to buy it and they quickly left the girls alone, with only a few "goodnight"'s and "be sure to get some sleep tonight"'s as their parting words.

Once everyone heard the door of the master bedroom close firmly, they all heaved a great sigh of relief and watched in amusement as the closet door tumbled open, Mamoru and Natsu falling out of the cramped space.

"What the hell? Are you running a fever or something?" Mamoru hissed at the pink-haired man. "It was sweltering in there with you!"

"I can't help it, pansy!" Natsu just barely managed to keep his voice down. Lucy had already begun to massage her temples.

"I swear, that idiot can't go 20 minutes without arguing with someone" she muttered under her breath.

Whether he heard her or not, Natsu continued on, "I have a higher temperature than everyone else. Sort of comes with the magic"

Lucy looked up to see everyone staring at the bickering duo with surprise and shock. Leaning over, Usagi tapped Makoto on the shoulder, "Err, why are you all looking like that?" she asked.

Makoto just barely managed to tear her gaze from the argument, "Mamoru almost never bickers with anyone like that. In fact, every time I've seen him argue like this over anything, it's been with Usagi"

Lucy blinked, trying to process the information until her thoughts were interrupted by a particularly loud noise from the pair of them. Or perhaps it only seemed loud because of the silence in the room. Sighing and seeing that everyone else still seemed to be glued to the floor, Lucy got up and quickly walked across the room, grabbing the dragon slayer's ear and pulling him back to where she had been sitting previously.

After pushing his grumbling and protesting form to the ground, she plopped down next to him and looked calmly at the rest, who had turned their still shocked expressions to her.

"Alright then, so what do we do now?"

Everyone slowly began to come out of their stupor, even Mamoru closing his open mouth and sitting down between Usagi and Chibiusa.

"How did you make him shut up so easily?" Mamoru couldn't help but ask.

Lucy just rolled her eyes, "Let's just say I'm used to it. Now, back to the situation at hand. What are we going to do about these two," she gestured to the males, "in the morning?"

Natsu responded by yawning and leaning on Lucy's shoulder. She, in response, glared at him before rolling her eyes, seemingly resigning herself to the situation.

"Well, we can't just leave them here" Mina pointed out.

Makoto nodded, her eyebrow drawing together for a moment before she suddenly grinned. "Why don't you two just camp out in my living room for the night?" she asked, "It's closer than Mamoru's place anyways, so we can all walk and meet you two over there after we catch some sleep"

"Aw hell no!" Mamoru broke in, "I'm not staying alone with that idiot for another minute" he protested, though his voice seemed to dwindle slightly when he saw the twin looks Usagi and Chibiusa were giving him.

Rei piped up from across the circle, "I don't think you have much of a choice, Mamoru" she pointed out, "There's no way either of you can stay here now, and at least this way you'll be close. Besides, you dealt with Usagi for quite a while, I'm sure you can deal with Pinky over here for a few more hours" she finished, ignoring Natsu's tired protestation against being called Pinky.

"Mamo-chan" Usagi said quietly, laying her hand on his knee.

The man looked at her for a few seconds before sighing. "Alright, alright, fine. How do we get in, Makoto?"

"I keep the spare key taped to the bottom of the chair on my landing. Don't eat anything when you're there, I'll make breakfast when we all get over there, later"

Lucy shifted her shoulder a little, prodding Natsu to get up. "But Luuuuuuucy" he whined

"Natsu, get the hell off me, you idiot" she grumbled. Mamoru just gave an irritated look and stalked over. Grabbing the younger man's arm, he pulled him over to the window and slid the glass pane open.

"Follow me and keep your mouth shut" he ordered. When it looked like Natsu was going to argue, Lucy stood up and smacked the boy on the head.

"He's not Gray, so stop acting like he is," she hissed at him. When the two were finally gone, she sighed and slumped back to the floor. "He is one of the most frustrating people I have ever had the misfortune to know" Lucy lamented, causing all the other girls to start giggling. "What?" she asked, "Trust me, you'd feel the same way after a single job with that idiot, and that's not even considering all the times he breaks into my apartment."

"I don't know," began Rei, a large smirk on her face, "you two seem awfully close"

"Yes!" agreed Mina, "The bonds of love surrounding you two are strong!" she proclaimed, affecting what she thought was a mystical air. The other girls saw through it and began to giggle even more at her antics, though Lucy began to blush furiously.

Chibiusa crawled over and sat down facing the poor blonde. "What did you mean when you yelled at him for crawling into bed with you. Does that mean he does it often?" Ami and Makoto looked shocked as they stared at the youngest member of their party, wondering if she understood what she was implying, but the rest got devilish looks on their faces.

Scooting closer to Lucy until she was practically in the stuttering girl's lap, Usagi smiled slyly. "Yeah, what did you mean by that?"

Finally, Lucy managed to get a hold of herself. "No! It's not like it sounds!" she sputtered out, "He just breaks into my apartment all the time and ends up crawling into bed with me. I have no idea why and I kick that idiot out everytime he does once I wake up."

"It seems to me she doth protest not enough" Mina piped up, looking rather proud of herself.

Ami opened her mouth as though she were about to say something to the mistaken girl, but sighed and settled for shaking her head.

"You know," Rei said, sidling up to Lucy's other side, "we did a pretty good job in getting Usagi and Mamoru together. We could probably give you a hand, too."

Lucy groaned and fell back on the floor, reaching up to cover her furiously blushing face as she ignored Usagi's protestations.

"I don't need a hand" she muttered

"Oh, such confidence in your love!" Mina gushed. Lucy glared.

"There isn't love. Well, not the kind you're talking about. He's my partner and my best friend, even if he is an idiot"

Usagi left off her arguing with Rei and returned to the conversation at hand. "You know, you need to be best friends with the one you love. Otherwise, it'll never work" she pointed out.

Lucy began to argue again before she stopped, a flummoxed expression on her face. "Aren't you a little young to know so much about love, anyways?" Lucy wasn't expecting the wisdom the young girl seemed to exhibit in matters of the heart.

Usagi looked at the others and they all began to giggle nervously. "Well, you could say that I have some first hand experience with the concept of soul mates"

Lucy gave her a look of disbelief. Granted, Lucy could be a hopeless romantic at times, but this girl was what, 16 at the most? Even if she noticed that Usagi and Mamoru seemed to genuinely care for one another, calling them soul mates when she had just barely reached a dating age seemed a bit of a stretch.

"What do you think of reincarnation?" Ami suddenly piped up, causing everyone to swivel and look at her.

"Ummm, a cliched, overused literary plot device used to give more weight and depth to a character than necessary?"

That seemed to startle them for a second, but it wasn't long before Ami cracked a small smile and Rei started laughing. Even Makoto had the corners of her mouth uplifted when she spoke.

"Perhaps, but in all seriousness, what do you think?"

Lucy shrugged a little, "Well, I'm not sure, I've never really thought about it. Before last week, I would have never thought that different worlds existed, yet look where I am. I just got back from meeting an alternate version of me, and now I'm here."

Ami nodded and gave her a small smile, "I hope you will tell me more of that some other time, but to clarify the reasoning for my question," she sighed a little, knowing this would sound ridiculous, "it's very much real. Usagi and Mamoru were lovers a millenium ago"

"You've got to be kidding me" Lucy burst out, looking between their faces. Finally, she turned and settled her gaze on the girl in question.

Usagi looked at Lucy with a far more serious expression than she had come to expect from the girl. It was loving, reminiscent, yet, sad, too.

"We're not, though. I believe I promised you an explanation earlier in the evening."

Biting her lip, Lucy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, physically forcing her mind to clear and be more receptive to what she was about to hear.

"Alright, alright, alright. Considering my story, I guess I don't have room to make calls like that. Tell me" she said, opening her eyes once more to level a steady gaze at Usagi.

The young blonde nodded and absently pulled a blanket over Chibiusa, who had fallen asleep in her lap. "I was once Serenity of the Silver Millenium, that was the name of our home. Rei, Ami, Makoto, and Minako were my guardians in that time, and Mamoru was my lover. When our home was attacked, we were all killed and, in order to save us, my mother, Serenity, used her power to send us to the future so that we would have a chance to live, and ended up dying in the process. When we were 14 years old, our ancient enemy reappeared and we were woken to our memories in order to fight against her. We managed to defeat Beryl and Metalia, but soon after a new enemy appeared, along with Chibiusa, who came from the future in order to get help...mostly," the corner of her mouth quirked upwards for a moment, "Wiseman was defeated as well, and she was sent back to her time, but the little pest couldn't seem to stay away and she has returned in order to train to take my place as Sailor Moon, once I cannot act in that role any more. Now then, do you have any questions?" Usagi finished, smiling brightly. Lucy simply stared blankly.

"Idiot," Rei said, glowering, "even we would have questions at that explanation, and we lived through it!"

As Lucy looked on, her mind whirling in an attempt to process the information, Rei and Usagi quickly dissolved into an argument, though they at least made an effort to keep quiet so as not to wake Chibiusa. Lucy was grateful, though. The act kept the other girls distracted and allowed her to file things away within her mind. The elder girl was pulled from her reverie as she heard the argument begin to settle down. Licking her dry lips, she nodded.

"Before you say anything, we would all like to vouch for Usagi's story, as hard to believe as it might be" Mina piped up, her voice bright, even as her gaze was serious. Lucy stared for a few seconds and then smiled in response, all the words she had secretly been rehearsing abandoned.

"I believe you," she said simply, a bright smile appearing on her face. All the other girls seemed floored by her statement, and Makoto leaned forward a bit.

"But..why?" she asked, disbelief coloring her voice.

"Well, I'm a stranger to this world, and you aren't, and you haven't exactly done anything that would make me doubt you. You found Natsu and I, took care of us, fed us, and listened and believed our story. It wouldn't exactly be very grateful of me to refuse to do the same, especially when you don't seem to have any reason to lie."

With each passing word, Usagi's smile grew brighter and brighter and finally, in an enthusiastic lunge, the girl wrapped her arms around Lucy in a hug. The older girl, who didn't seem to be expecting it, looked down at Usagi with confusion in her gaze.

"Errr.." she said, while Mina and Ami laughed.

"Well, it looks like your partner might have her appetite, but you seem to be the most similar to Usagi," Makoto remarked, "She's always eager to look for new friends and see the best in people. I'm guessing she now considers you within that category. Too late to get out of it now," she teased.

Usagi blushed a little, but her smile never wavered. Lucy laughed a little and returned the hug, the girl reminding her a little of Wendy.

"I do still have a couple questions, though" she pointed out.

"Oh, I'm sure you do. After all, I think we've already established that was a terrible way of explaining everything" Rei grinned.

Lucy snorted a little and shrugged noncommittally, refusing to risk antagonizing her hosts. Clearing her throat, she asked her first question, "Alright, so what was with the getups I saw earlier, then?"

"Those were our uniforms," Ami explained, "Earth isn't like what your world seems to be like. Magic is limited, and there are many who don't believe in it. Our appearance a year ago has sparked a great deal of confusion and controversy. While the general populace of Japan seems to regard us as heroes of some sort, the government would love to find us. There are many possible reasons why, but I would think that performing experiments on us or trying to get us to work for them are both very likely scenarios should they succeed," she grimaced, "This world doesn't have a very good history of treating unique people with kindness. That aside, it would be bad if our enemies were to discover our true identities, as they could target our friends and family who would be unable to defend themselves.

Our Senshi uniforms are imbued with some sort of magic that helps disguise our true identities, though Usagi, and sometimes Rei, can see through the magic to a certain degree. Each of us has an alias while in our uniforms, derived from our past lives, and each of us have specific powers that relate to our planet of origin."

Lucy sputtered a little bit at the last part, and interrupted Ami's significantly more reasonable explanation, "I'm sorry, but planet of origin?"

"Yeah," Makoto said, "Each of us were princesses in our own right of whichever planet we came from. Our galaxy was united in an alliance termed The Silver Millenium. At the head of the alliance was the Moon Kingdom, over which Usagi's past mother ruled. Mamoru was Endymion, prince of the Earth. The only reason we each have the powers we do is because of our direct connection with the planet that acts as our patron, of sorts."

Lucy swallowed and nodded dumbly, part of her mind contemplating whether she should bow to her companions or not. Before she could make a decision either way, Ami continued where she had left off.

"You won't find evidence of the Silver Millenium in Earth's history books, but traces do remain. After the Alliance was destroyed and we were killed, Earth fell into something of a dark age. Our history became stories, then legends, then myths. Only fragments of the truth can be found now, and even then one must search well. For example, in the history of the earth, there was once an empire led by the people called the Romans. They had their gods and goddesses, though I believe these icons were derived from our past selves. Jupiter, the king of the gods, was the god of lightning, just as our own Makoto is Sailor Jupiter and controls the element. Similar trends exist for the rest of us," they all smiled a little.

"Venus was the goddess of Love, to the Romans. I can manipulate Light and can be sensitive to other's emotions," Minako said.

"What she said about me is true, too," Makoto said, "Even if they did fuck up the gender," she growled under her breath. To be honest, Lucy could see how they could do so. Makoto could be quite intimidating, if she wanted to be. 'Much like Erza,' thought crossed her mind unexpectedly and caused a small smile to flit across her lips. Maybe this world wasn't as similar to Earthland as Edolas, but it seemed as though it still had its connections.

"Mars was the god of war, and Fire is my element," Rei continued.

"Unfortunately, mine isn't as connected as the others, and serves as a small weakness in my theory. Mercury was the god of travel and theives, but my element is Ice."

"Oh come on, Ami, it's barely a weakness," Rei interjected, "Mercury was also supposed to be really clever, and I've never met anyone who's smarter than you," she finished, boldly, causing the dark haired girl to blush.

Lucy had reached a point where she ceased to try and understand everything they were explaining and instead decided to accept their words as fact, even if Ami's explanation seemed to help considerably.

"So, are you all fighting anything now?" she finally felt compelled to ask.

Their faces were a mixture of hope and grim acceptance, and the room grew silent. Finally, Usagi spoke quietly, "No new enemy has yet to appear. I really hope another won't for a while, but Chibiusa is living proof that we will eventually have to fight again at some point." She looked as if she didn't relish the prospect, to put it lightly.

Lucy nodded again, the wheels in her mind turning. The room grew silent once more as the sky outside began to lighten. Just as the sun began to reach above the horizon, Lucy spoke again, lifting her chin stubbornly.

"I have a favor to ask. I want your help in getting Natsu and I back to Earthland" she said. The girls looked interested, and Usagi opened her mouth, no doubt to readily accept, if Lucy's impressions of the girl were correct. She help up a hand to halt their words, "But, in return, I want you to allow Natsu and myself to help you fight, if you need to. We're both experienced and capable mages, and he is crazy powerful. I don't like to fight, but I want a way for us to earn our keep."

The Senshi grew thoughtful and shared poignant looks with each other. Usagi looked reluctant at the prospect, however. "We will help you, I swear, but you don't need to help us fight. It wouldn't be your battle and I would hate for either of you to get hurt" she stated quietly, though her gaze was steady as she looked at Lucy.

Lucy met the girl look for look, her chin jutting forward stubbornly, "Regardless, both of us have plenty of fighting experience. Besides, we're friends, right? Where we come from, our friend's struggles are our own, and the same applies to you. I must insist."

Usagi grimaced and looked at her Senshi again, seeming to have a silent conversation with them. Finally, she sighed and shook her head resignedly. "Fine. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and you won't need to fight," She said, her voice growing more bright as the realization came to her.

Lucy grinned back, and reached over to hug the girl once more. All the girls in the room visibly relaxed and began to laugh, no one seeming to notice Rei staring out the window and muttering something about "famous last words" under her breath.

* * *

**Hey there, everyone! I'm sorry for the late update. I was suffering from a little bit of writer's block, though the main reason was finally getting the password to the family Netflix account (x,x) and starting an account with a new RPG. The one I've just begun is Aion and, if you haven't played it, I would recommend it. It's free and, though it takes a lot of time to download (I haven't experienced any problems regarding bugs or viruses), it's really fun and has an awesome storyline and graphics. If you decide to play, or you already play, feel free to find me! I'm currently using the same character name as this account (*cough cough* MixBerkaan). Also, you can find me on DeviantArt and Tumblr under this name. **

**I'm sorry this chapter wasn't very exciting, but I _did_ have to get the exposition out of the way before I can start to build up the plot. For those of you who are tuned into my other story, "_For Better or Worse_", I'm also apologizing for the lateness on that one. I have finished Chapter 6, but have recently been able to get a beta who is in the process of reading up on the story so far, so I'm not going to upload it until she has an opportunity to read over the text. **

**I hope you all enjoy the story so far, and I'm looking forward to continuing it! If you desire, please leave a review in the box below. It doesn't have to be intensive if you don't want it to be (though they would be quite welcome). Even just jotting down a few of your thoughts would be wonderful. Until next time, readers!**


	5. Chapter 5

As the sun crested the horizon, it's bright streams weaving over bay and through the buildings to shine directly into the Usagi's room. With a common groan, the girls realized that, between their adventures in Juuban Park, waiting for the pair to regain consciousness, talking, almost dying at parental hands, and more talking, they had managed to get a grand total of a half hour's sleep that night.

Finally, with a resigned sigh, Makoto stood up and twisted, eliciting a loud cracking from her lower back. Groaning in relief, she looked down at the rest and stretched her arms above her head.

"Why don't we stop by a grocery store and head over to my flat to make breakfast?" Her suggestion was met with wide approval, and the girls set about getting ready quietly so as not to wake the still sleeping Chibiusa. Before walking out the door, Usagi gently picked up the sleeping girl and tucked her in the bed, pulling the covers up under her chin. The other girls smirked to themselves at the sight. Sleeping through as much as Chibiusa had? She was her mother's child, for sure.

"Luna?" Usagi whispered, "Will you stay here and keep an eye on her? You can bring her over when she wakes up,"

The cat yawned and nodded, before curling up at the foot of the bed.

"Great, with that settled, let's go!" Mina exclaimed before being quickly hushed by the other girls.

It took a good half hour before any of them were in a fit state to leave the house, but when the time came, they managed to do so without waking anyone up. Usagi made sure to leave a note for her parents to find, informing them of her whereabouts, before following her friends into the brisk morning air.

Lucy groaned as they made their way through the quiet streets, stretching her arms and listening to the pops and cracks that followed each movement.

"I feel as though I fell off a train." she grumbled, wincing as each muscle seemed to protest movement.

"Well, you may not have fallen off a train, but you did fall out of the sky," Ami pointed out, reasonably.

"Yeah, and even if your boyfriend saved you from the majority of the fall, it's not like he's a soft landing. Did you see those abs?" Mina chattered excitedly to Makoto, who grinned and began an in depth conversation with the blonde regarding the merits of well-defined muscle structure.

Lucy, on the other hand, responded with blushing furiously and stuttering out (once again) that they weren't dating.

"Is that so?" Rei sidled up to Lucy, a sly look on her face, "So you wouldn't mind if I made a move, then?" she asked.

Lucy coughed, choking on nothing, it would seem. When she finally regained her breath, she gave the dark-haired girl a disbelieving look.

"Well, it wouldn't really work, would it? I mean, we come from a different world and all," Lucy trailed off, her blush increasing.

"Look, if it really bothers you, say so. But if it doesn't, well then, love conquers all!" Mina jumped in, abandoning the conversation with Makoto in order to assist in teasing Lucy.

Usagi laughed and linked her arm with Lucy's, "It's okay if you want to deny it for now. Mamo-chan and I used to fight like mad every time we saw each other, after all. All things considered, you already have a better start with Natsu than we had."

"You two...fought..?" Lucy turned to the blonde, her eyebrow rising to her forehead, "Somehow I can't picture this," she remarked.

Usagi laughed and nodded. "Yeah, we really couldn't stand each other at first. Mamo-chan thinks it something to do with part of our subconsciousness recognizing the other, but the rest of our mind not knowing how to process the emotion, so we lashed out at each other or something. I don't really know. Science and whatnot has never been my strong suit."

Lucy laughed in spite of herself, and finally held up her hands in defeat. "Alright, alright. Say what you will about Natsu and I. I still don't think there's anything romantic between us, though. On a separate subject, I need to try finding some sort of job. I know Natsu won't think of it, and I'm not sure you want him working, anyways. He'd probably set potential employers on fire," she said, muttering the last bit almost under her breath.

"Fire?" Rei said, her voice still teasing, "My, he just gets more compatible every second,"

At Lucy's confusion, Mina offered a flippant explanation, "Rei is a fire user. Now then, tell us more about your magics!" She demanded excitedly.

The other girls laughed, and Lucy grinned, "Well, I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage and Natsu's a Fire Dragon Slayer."

Quite frankly, the other girls looked confused, though Ami seemed to be trying to piece things together. With a sigh, Lucy explained further, "I summon Stellar spirits, and Natsu controls fire, though I'm not sure 'control' would be a good word for it." she said, dryly, "Every time we go out on a job, he manages to cause enough damage that at least half the reward is lost trying to compensate. Well, maybe I should say he doesn't know how to hold back, rather than he doesn't know how to control it."

"Now this, I want to see," Makoto laughed.

"Pardon?" Lucy asked.

"This power of yours. I take it you don't have to transform to use it?" She explained.

"Err, no. Why, do you?"

"Well, sorta," Rei answered, before Ami explained more fully.

"The suits act as a sort of amplifier, would be the best way to explain it. We each retain some of our abilities after de-transforming, but we don't have near the amount of strength as when in uniform."

"That's kinda weird" Lucy felt herself saying, before she slapped a hand over her mouth, blushing furiously. "I apologize. I don't know what came over me. Maybe I've been spending too much time with Natsu."

Mina and Usagi laughed, the former waving her hand flippantly.

"Don't worry about it. Besides, we're here. You'll get to spend plenty more time with your boyfriend, now."

"B-but he's not-"

"Don't try lying to the Goddess of Love, now. After all, 'A trail of true love always runs smoothly!"

"Mina..." the other girls began, before sighing and accepting her penchant for unintentionally dismantling popular idioms.

With a short bark of laughter, Makoto stepped ahead and lead the way into a small drive and up a flight of stairs. Unlocking the door, she stepped in and they all hollered out greetings. Lucy lagged a bit behind, and could hear the two masculine voices returning the greetings, though she couldn't quite bring herself to actually look inside, terrified that Natsu would have made as large of a mess as he usually made when invading her flat. Quite frankly, Lucy liked these new friends and wanted to keep them, and despite the amount of confidence that radiated from Usagi's boyfriend, she couldn't help but feel as though she was the only one capable of keeping Natsu within a semblance of the word "checked".

Taking one last moment to brace herself, Lucy stepped through the door.

"Whaaaa?" She felt her jaw drop open. The room was, in short, spotless, save for the two piles of blankets on the floor where the two men continued to sleep. Mina laughed at the expression on Lucy's face and reached over to lift her jaw back up. The two blondes shared a look and laughed with each other before Lucy walked forward and nudged Natsu with her toe.

"Come on, moron, if we can't get any sleep, then you can't either" she says.

Natsu grumbled and rolled over towards the blonde. Her feet were unexpectedly caught in the movement and Lucy was faced with two options: Fall over, or allow her shins to snap in two. Choosing to take the less painful of the choices, Lucy went down with about as much grace as a turtle on it's back. The one advantage to this action was Natsu finally managed to wake up.

Letting out a war cry at the sudden, unexpected weight on his chest, the dragon slayer lept to his feet, his fists already blazing as he looked around for his enemies. Instead of a fierce battle, his gaze was met with the startled stares of five girls and a boy who seemed to have gotten a much nicer wake-up call (he noted rather bitterly).

"Err. Natsu?" Makoto began, "You are on fire." The brunette seemed stunned, and incapable of pointing out more than the obvious.

"Yeah? So?" the boy responded, intelligently.

"Ahhh. So, um, when Lucy said you were a Fire Dragon Slayer, I guess she wasn't kidding," Rei commented. To be fair, she wasn't expecting this level of control over the element. Fire, itself, was tricky, and was as quick to burn and destroy as it was to help and warm. To see the loud, somewhat obnoxious boy with questionable intelligence wield the flames so nonchalantly was a sight in and of itself.

Clearing her throat and successfully gaining everyone's attention, Ami looked at Usagi before focusing on Lucy and Natsu. "Powers and whatnot aside, I think we need to focus on some more practical matters. For one, as nice as both of your clothing choices are, they don't exactly fit in around here, and at this point, I feel as though it's best to draw as little attention to yourselves as possible. I highly doubt an earthquake, big flash of light, and crater in the middle of the park is going to stay unnoticed for long. Then, we're going to need to think about what to do with the pair of you once school starts again. If I'm not mistaken, you're both still young enough to be attending school, and it would, again, be rather obvious if a couple of school kids running around town once the semester starts. The last thing we want is for the police to pick you up for skipping school when you don't have any form of identification."

Usagi took a seat next to Mamoru and Makoto excused herself to the kitchen, where she was able to look over a small bar while she set about making breakfast for the group. Shrugging a little, the blonde looked at Lucy and Natsu. "Well, Ami has a point. I suppose first thing's first, we need to get you both some new clothing. We can do that once we eat, though." She insisted brightly, causing the other girls to chuckle a little. Sobering once more, Usagi's brows drew together as she contemplated the other problem they collectively faced.

Silence permeated throughout the room as the rest of the senshi tried to find a solution as well. Finally, after what seemed an interminable amount of time, Rei spoke up.

"Well, it seems Lucy and Natsu have two choices. They can either sit in one of the houses all day doing nothing, or they can go to school with us, or rather, Mamoru, since I assume they'd be going to high school."

Lucy only had to look once at Natsu before she sighed. "I might be able to get by, but Natsu has had very little formal education. However, going to school would probably be the lesser of two evils. Trust me when I say that the last thing you want is for him to be sitting around, doing nothing, and getting bored. How soon is it until we would need to go, and how would we explain our presence?"

"School starts next week," answered Mina, "as far as the second part, neither of you look particularly Japanese, so maybe foreign exchange students?"

"Mina that's...actually not a half bad idea" Makoto called from the kitchen.

Mamoru sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright, then, but how do we take care of registration?"

His question was once again met with silence, until, that is, Usagi gave a delighted gasp.

"The Luna-Pen!" she exclaimed, pulling a small ball-point from seemingly nowhere.

* * *

"Explain to me again how the fuck we're going to pull this off?" Lucy asked as she and Natsu followed Mamoru and the newly-disguised Usagi into what would (hopefully) be their school.

"It's simple, I go in, act like a manager of some exchange program, Mamoru signs as being your host, and you go to school with him next week," the blonde responded cheerily.

"Okay, you look the part," Lucy admitted, eyeing the girl's outfit, "but do you actually know what this manager person would act like?"

"Hey, have a little faith!" she protested, sticking out her tongue. Mamoru was carefully looking anywhere and everywhere else to avoid being drawn in, but Lucy could spy a small, but affectionate smile pulling up the corners of his mouth. Clearly not getting any support from that quarter, she turned to Natsu, who was tugging uncomfortably at the clothing that Mamoru had loaned him (though to be fair, they didn't quite fit. The dark haired man was considerably taller than her partner).

"Natsu, say something!" Lucy exclaimed, pulling his attention away from the clothing, momentarily.

"Umm, something?"

There was silence for a moment as the three of them gave the boy identical blank stares. Finally, Lucy huffed and threw her hands in the air. "I give up. Let's just get this over with."

"Aww, come on, Luce. Why're you so worried? It's not like we never wing things back home. Heh, get it? Wing. Dragon Slayer."

Lucy gave him a decidedly unamused look before walking up to the doors and holding them open, giving a bow. Her voice positively wilted the nearby grass with all the sarcasm that leaked from her voice. "After you, Manager-san. What could possibly go wrong?"

* * *

"Very well, then Ms. Heartfilia, Mr. Dragneel, we'll see you in a week. Be sure to pick up your uniforms and remember that we are quite happy to have you here at Azubu High School," the principal said, shuffling and organizing the papers they had just filled out.

Lucy was struck with disbelief at the entire situation. It seemed she had misjudged the blonde girl, or, at the very least, misjudged the charisma she possessed that just screamed "this blonde is telling the truth".

The day was saved by Natsu, who energetically shot out of his chair, tired of sitting so long.

"Alrighty then, thanks Mister. We'll be seeing ya!" he exclaimed, before bouncing over and holding open the door. Lucy regained control of her dumbfounded face and exchanged her own farewells before walking outside with Natsu, Lucy, and Mamoru.

"See! I told you to trust me," Usagi giggled.

"I suppose you did" Lucy answered, and couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips now that the most stressful part of the morning is out of the way.

"Well, we managed to get both of you enrolled, despite some of my misgivings about your pink-haired friend" Mamoru said, wrapping his arm around Usagi's shoulders, "I suppose all we need to do now is make sure you have your uniforms."

"Whattt? We have to wear uniforms?" Natsu protested.

"Gah, weren't you listening at all, moron?" Lucy asked, glaring at her partner. Ignoring any replies he might attempt to make, she looked back at the couple. "So, where can we get these uniforms?"

"Well, at the mall. There's a store that carries local uniforms there. I would say you'll both need three sets, each."

"Aww, hell." Lucy muttered, "I don't suppose jewels are a valid currency here, are they." She muttered under her breath. Heaving a sigh, the mage looked at her new friend, "I hate to ask any more favors, but you wouldn't know a place where I could get a job, would you?"

Usagi and Mamoru exchanged a glance, before looking back at the wizards. "Well, we could probably help you find something. What can you do?"

"A job? Ooh, Luce and I have done plenty of them. We're really good with bandits and taking down Dark Guilds, though." Natsu piped in. Usagi and Mamoru stared at him blankly.

"Natsu, I don't think you should be working considering our location" Lucy began.

"Luceee," Natsu whined, only to be brought up short as Lucy glared at him.

"Natsu, none of the jobs around here are anything you would be interested in, alright? And, by Neville, don't you even think about using your magic in public, got it?" she finally snapped.

"Sheesh, yeah, I got it" he grumbled, sticking his hands in his pockets and kicking a stone out of his path.

The group walked in silence for several minutes before Usagi cleared her throat.

"Umm, I think I just got an idea" she began, causing them all to stop and look at her in curiosity, "What if we asked Motoki to try to find a position for you at the arcade? He said he wanted to help us out after he discovered our little secret, and this way you'd be close to our HQ, so we'd be easily accessible."

"That's...actually not a half bad idea" Mamoru said after a few seconds, an impressed, yet proud look on his face.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Usagi grumbled, sticking her tongue out at him.

Mamoru settled for laughing and pulling her into a one-armed hug. "Nothing, Usako."

Lucy smiled for a moment before tilting her head. "So, what would I have to do?"

"Well, if Motoki-kun says yes, then you'd probably be serving food, washing dishes, maybe cooking a little. Nothing major!" she answered brightly.

"Oh! We've had jobs like that before!" Lucy exclaimed, relieved that she wouldn't have to be doing something completely foreign.

"Even better! Now come on, Lu-chan, I promised the girls we'd meet them at the mall!" Usagi let go of her boyfriend's arm and began to drag Lucy down the street.

Lucy felt a small pang rush through her heart. As much as she felt she could enjoy being with these people, Usagi's casual use of her name acutely reminded her of all her friends back home-friends who would no doubt be worrying themselves silly at this point.

"Luce?" she heard Natsu call out behind her as he and Mamoru jogged to keep up. Swallowing her sadness, Lucy gave him a brilliant smile over her shoulder.

"Come on, Natsu, we've got things to do and people to see. We'll get home soon"

"Of course we will, idiot" he laughed.

The group's merriment was cut short by a loud explosion from a nearby office building, sending shock waves radiating outwards and knocking everyone to the ground. Screams filled the air as people began running away from the scene like cockroaches from light.

In a response born of instinct, the four of them sprung back to their feet and began running towards the source of the blast, Usagi already calling in the others on her communicator.

When they managed to reach the front facade, they were exposed to darkened walls, shattered glass, and an eerie silence that juxtaposed the chaos not 100 meters away. Sharing a glance, Usagi and Mamoru pulled Lucy and Natsu into a nearby alley. In two bright flashes of light, the Fiorans were faced with two rather imposing figures. There was a slight blurriness to their forms, which made it difficult to focus on their faces but with enough determination, Lucy was able to recognize her newly formed friend.

"Lucy, Natsu, stay here." Usagi ordered, before she and Mamoru began to run back to the scene. Ignoring her completely, Lucy grabbed her keys and raced after, Natsu hot on her heels.

"No way. We're not allowed to let you do any fighting without us," Natsu insisted. In a corner of her mind, Lucy felt compelled to laugh at his desire for violence at any and all times, but resisted the inclination.

"Natsu's right. We already said we'd help you out in any way we can. Besides, we're used to fighting."

The shorter blonde gave a semi-annoyed huff, but smiled cheerfully anyways. "Alright, we'll watch each other's backs, then." she said, knowing they didn't have time to waste.

Without another word, the four entered the building, hopefully ready to face whatever awaited them inside.

* * *

**Alright, readers! Here's the somewhat late, but hopefully anticipated chapter! I'm super excited both to see the Dragon King Festival and Grand Magic Games Finale animated, but also to see where the Tartaros Arc is going to take us. I was also really excited to see a bit more into Mira's personality and past. After all, we don't usually get to see her as often (though I think they've been working to fix that :P). However, what I'm _really_ looking forward to is seeing who Mr. Ice Demon Slayer Thing Guy is. Personally, I'm wondering if he's Gray's da. _That_ would be interesting (and right up Mashima's alley, if I were to be honest with myself). However, I can't seem to figure out how it would work, since we've already learned that Gray's family were all killed by Deliora. Ah, well. Hopefully we'll find out soon!**

**A big thank you to my first reviewer, Aria. I thank you for your compliments, sincerely! It's a bit gut wrenching for me to put my work out there (though, I'll admit it's considerably easier when I can hide behind a computer screen), and it's a big relief to see not only positive feedback, but honest opinions as well. I will be the first to agree with you in regards to the explanation-heavy scenes last chapter. I did apologize for being so exposition driven, there, but to be honest, I was having trouble with inspiration as well as reaching the minimum word limit I've set myself for each chapter. Maybe one of these days, I'll go back and tidy it up a bit, but right now, I'm going to focus on getting this story, as well as "For Better or Worse" finished. **

**A shoutout to both innocents and closet-perverts alike! I'm a bit on the fence about including sexual situations later in the story (even though the manga implies they occur between Usagi and Mamoru, and despite Mashima not giving us more than strong hints), but am worried about preserving the integrity of both stories (I don't think integrity is quite the correct word I'm going for, but it's 4 in the morning, give me a break). So, I'll let you all decide. Would you like to see sexual situations in this story (to be clear, not ones involving all four of them. It's way too out of character for me -shivers-) and, if so, to what degree would you like? I'll take a look at what the general consensus is and will make my decision based upon that. Please leave a review with your wishes as well as your opinions! :D **

**Until next time!**

**Mix**


	6. Chapter 6

Spears of glass littered the deserted sidewalk outside the building. Usagi, newly transformed, stared at the scene in horror. A dark mass grew in the center of the lobby, pulsing and throbbing with a malignant aura. The screams of those outside gradually grew fainter as the surrounding area was deserted, though it was only a matter of time before humanity's natural curiosity brought them clamoring back to see what the commotion was about.

"What the hell is that?" Lucy panted, both she and Natsu having had some difficulty keeping up with the two heroes in their accelerated states.

"No idea" Usagi said, casting a worried look at Tuxedo Kamen. Though he didn't return the gaze, she could see the strain etch itself into his face. The last thing any of them wanted

"Well, whatever it is, let's kick some ass!" Natsu shouted, eager, as always, to expend some energy.

"I don't think it has an ass to kick," Mamoru pointed out flatly, "but, in any case something should probably be done. Lucy, Natsu, would you be so kind as to keep it distracted while Sailor Moon and I examine something?"

Lucy smiled and nodded for the both of them before joining her partner, who was already busy throwing small attacks at the beast. Turning, Usagi glared at her lover and was about to open her mouth to protest before a look in his eyes silenced her.

"Look," he said quietly, "we need to get a handle on what they can do. By their own words, they're experienced fighters, so they should be able to hold out long enough for us to get a firm grasp of their abilities. If, by some chance, they were overestimating themselves, we're right here to step in."

Usagi looked as though she were about to protest again, but a large explosion silenced the words before they could leave her throat. The pair quickly turned back towards the battle and were rendered speechless at the sight that awaited them.

While the mass was still present, it was significantly smaller than before and seemed to be on the defensive, nursing multiple wounds. Natsu was completely engulfed in flames, and it was only the lack of worry on Lucy's face that stopped them from rushing to his side. The mass recoiled again and again as Natsu tossed fire in its direction, managing to avoid the worst injuries. However, though it seemed to be hurt, the flames themselves seemed to be having a limited effect, bouncing off for the most part.

Without warning, a large hole opened up underneath the mass, revealing a young woman on the other side. Natsu ran forward and used the opportunity to send one of his more powerful attacks straight down at the monster, using the confined space of the hole to amplify his attack and prevent it from escaping. All of this was missed by the observing pair as they were busy rushing forward to get the girl out of harm's way.

"Tuxedo Kamen, get her out of here. I'll distract it." Usagi ordered, putting herself in between the monster and the girl.

Usagi was just about to let loose her boomerang when she heard a commotion behind her.

"Put me down! I must be punished by my mistress!"

"What the hell.." Usagi began before she heard Lucy rush over.

"Wait, wait! She's my friend! I'll explain later, just let her be!"

Usagi looked over her shoulder to see an exasperated glance from Mamoru, who was doing as he was bid. Suppressing laughter, Usagi turned back to the situation at hand and walked forward to the edge of the hole. Looking over at Natsu, she raised a hand to stop his next attack, ignoring the look of disappointment that crossed his features. The darkness seemed wounded and sulking. At any rate, she doubted it would be trying to leave that hole anytime soon.

Grabbing her communicator, Usagi pressed the call button.

"Mercury, how soon can I expect you here? We need an analysis," she inquired.

"Already here, Sailor Moon," A pair of voices responded from the device on her wrist as well as behind her.

Grinning, Usagi turned and gestured down in the pit. "Can you get a reading?"

"I'll do my best," the dark haired girl answered as she pulled out her computer and set to work. Usagi left her to it and walked to the rest of her scouts, who were just now arriving on the scene.

"Alright, let's split into pairs and spread out in case this thing has back up. It can be hurt, but it seems to have a decent defense and stamina, so it takes a while to make any kind of dent," she said.

"Alright," Venus said, a somber look on her face at the prospect of a new enemy. She and Jupiter shared an understanding look and began to head north.

"Tuxedo Kamen," Usagi called catching his attention, "please help Mars scout around the area for where this thing came from. I'll stay here to watch Mercury's back. Lucy, Natsu, I know you just finished battle, but I need you both to get out of the area. You don't have any means of hiding your identities at the moment, and we can't risk any witnesses to your being here. Make your way south and stop when you get to Juuban Park. There'll be a sign out front, but you should be able to ask for directions if you can find anyone."

Natsu looked a little put out, but Lucy nodded understandingly. "Come on, Natsu," she said, grabbing his wrist and pulling the Dragon Slayer with her out of the building.

"Awww, but Luce, I want to hit it some more," he whined.

His partner responded with rolling her eyes and ignoring him, pulling themselves into a fast jog. Some minutes later, when she deemed themselves far enough away, allowed their pace to slow and groaned, leaning against a building.

"How do you do it?" she whined, as she glared irritatedly at her partner who didn't even seem out of breath.

"Do what?" he asked, reaching up to scratch the back of his head.

"Go through shit like this on a near daily basis and not even feel winded." Lucy complained some more.

Natsu shrugged. "I dun know, just train a lot, I guess,"

Lucy sighed and laughed a little, "Well, maybe I should let you help me train," she mumbled under her breath.

"Really?!" he shouted, "then let's go! We'll train while we wait!" The Dragon Slayer made short work of picking her up and sprinting down the street, not even giving her a chance to protest that she had been mostly joking.

* * *

"Sailor Moon, I'm finished," Mercury called over, startling Usagi out of her hunger-orientated reverie. Suppressing the gurgling that emanated from her stomach, the blonde walked over and stood next to her teammate, waiting for the report.

"Everything about this enemy is strange. It's genetic scan closely resembles that of humans, though it seems to be more archaic compared to the DNA we see in the modern day homosapien."

"And that means, what?" Usagi asked, trying, and failing, to translate what the Senshi of Ice had been saying.

Mercury heaved a resigned sigh, "The creature basically has DNA that match what humans would have had thousands of years ago. DNA that shouldn't exist naturally any more."

"Oh. Well, if it shouldn't exist, how'd it get here?"

"That's the problem, I have no idea."

"Does this place have security cameras?" A voice interrupted from behind them. Usagi and Mercury turned to watch Tuxedo Kamen and Mars return from their scouting. The question prompted them to begin looking around for any form of camera.

"There!" Rei shouted, pointing to a corner of the ceiling.

"Nice going!" Usagi grinned, "Mercury, are you done with the monster?"

The girl gave a distracted nod as she began typing an entry into her computer. Turning, Sailor Moon pulled forth the scepter she had thought she would have a longer interval before having to use it, and sent one last surge of power towards the black mass, infusing it with light and eliminating it from this world.

"Alright, so why did we want the cameras again?" Usagi asked, turning back to face the others.

They all let out a resigned sigh. "So we can have our local genius hack in and see what happened, odango" Rei huffed.

"Ohh. Let's get going, then!" she exclaimed. The others shared an amused glance and followed the girl deeper into the building, looking for a security room.

It took more time than they would have liked, but eventually they came across it. Rei showed a peculiar talent set by picking the lock, and they all crammed into the tiny room, Ami at the front of the pack. Taking her computer, she looked at the various wires going every which way and, after determining which was for the live feed, plugged it into the device. From there, she was able to access the tapes on which the event had been recorded and download what she wanted to the computer.

"Don't forget to set it to record over the battle," Mamoru interjected, "we don't want anyone to see Lucy and Natsu there,"

"Right," she responded and wiped the memory.

"Neat, let's head to the roof and get out of here before the police show up," Rei said, opening her communicator and giving the rendezvous point to Jupiter and Venus who were on their way back to the building.

Everyone nodded their assent and piled back into the hallway, Ami being sure to lock the door behind them. Now out of the soundproofed security room, they could hear the faint sound of sirens trickling through the walls.

"Uh oh" Usagi said as they heard shouting and the barking of search and rescue dogs growing closer. As one, the group turned and raced away from the noises, looking for a stairwell that could lead them to the roof.

Just as the dogs were about to catch up to them, the found their exit route and burst through, slamming the door behind them. Up the stairs they raced, and finally out onto the roof. Looking over the edge, Mars groaned at the sight of emergency vehicles surrounding the building. As one, they leapt off the south side, heading in the same direction Usagi had sent Lucy and Natsu earlier.

Once they were a safe distance away, they all jumped down into an alley and untransformed, taking a moment (or a few) to catch their breath after their narrow escape.

"Alright, let's get going. Something tells me we shouldn't leave that idiot alone for too long, even if Lucy is with him." Mamoru said.

Usagi huffed and smacked his arm, "Stop that. They're our friends."

The man chose not to respond, though he found himself hard-pressed to prevent a rolling of the eyes.

"Come on, Mamoru, how much trouble do you think they could have gotten into?" Ami interjected.

Mamoru found he had to almost physically restrain himself from pointing out that, if Lucy was anything like Usagi, plenty could go wrong and Natsu didn't strike him as being particularly careful of his surroundings. Combine their personalities with the power they had both just exhibited, and he discovered he was quite anxious to get to the park.

"Well, why don't we go and find out," Rei said, before taking the initiative and striding out into the street towards Juuban Park.

* * *

"Natsuuuuu," Lucy groaned, plopping down on the grass in the middle of the park. Not only had he made her run the full mile and a half, but, upon reaching the park in question, he had pulled her straight into a thick copse of trees. Now, she glared up at him from a face covered in shallow scratches. "You are being ridiculous. We can't do any training right now, not only did we just get done with a fight, but it's broad daylight! You heard the others, magic isn't normal here. We can't afford to draw too much attention to ourselves, and you know damn well you always go overboard with your fire."

"Sheesh, Luce. Calm down, already. If you really don't want to train right now, we don't have to," Natsu countered, though he looked somewhat disappointed that he wasn't going to get to set anything else on fire today. Heaving a sigh, he fell back on the grass next to her, looking up at the sky.

For several minutes they sat in silence, reveling in a peacefulness that was rare in their lifestyles. Finally, Natsu broke the silence, as he was won't to do.

"I miss Happy," he stated, his voice oddly quiet as though he was reluctant to break the stillness.

Lucy sighed again and lay down next to him, turning on her side so she could see his face. "Don't tell ever tell him this, but I miss him, too," she answered, putting on a cheerful expression. To tell the truth, part of her was surprised. Usually it was Natsu who was focused on keeping everyone's spirits up, but the Celestial Mage supposed everyone was in need of comfort at some point.

"Don't worry, Natsu, you'll see him once we get back which, knowing you, won't be too long at all." she teased gently, reaching over and poking his arm.

Natus turned his head and gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks, Luce. I don't know what I'd do without you,"

"Probably bankrupt the guild from everything you always manage to destroy, would be my guess," she grinned at him.

Natsu groaned, "Come on, it's not _that_ bad!"

"Oh yes it is!"

"Is not"

"Is too"

"Not"

"Too"

Natsu growled a little, a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. Before Lucy could do much more than narrow her eyes in suspicion, Natsu had leapt at her from his prone position, effectively pinning her to the ground, causing her to shriek.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, moron? You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Lucy railed, glaring up at him after her heart rate had slowed down to a semblance of normal.

"Trial by combat! It's something Erza taught me about when I was a kid. You get into an argument with someone, and then fight. The winner is right!"

Lucy huffed in exasperation and muttered under her breath, "Of all the partners I could have had, I had to choose the primeval, Might is Right idiot,"

Nastu tilts his head as he stares at her in confusion, "What's pim-evil?"

"Oh, forget it," she says, rolling her eyes, "You know, the whole trial by combat thing doesn't work if your opponent isn't ready,"

"But how is that my fault? Lesson one of training, you should be ready for a fight at all times," he says, sounding as though he firmly believed that was the wisest bit of advice he could ever bestow-which, knowing him, it probably was. Rolling eyes again, Lucy changed the subject.

"Are you going to let me up anytime soon?" she inquired, her voice positively saccharine.

"I don' know, Luce. You can't kick or hit me when you're like this," he points out with a grin on his face.

Lucy almost had to physically restrain herself from groaning and calling him an idiot again. After all, coming from anyone other than Gray, they had about as much impact as flies on a horse.

"Natsu, get off me," she finally said after some moments.

"But I don' wanna!" he whined in response.

"Natsu..."

"I think I'm going to take a nap,"

"Wha-" she was cut off as he suddenly lay his head down on her rather ample bosom and, for all intents and purposes, looked as though he had fallen asleep.

Lucy was suspended in a cloud of disbelief. Did this idiot really just do that? Her shock was short lived, however, as she felt the blood rush to her face. Summoning her innermost strength that only came forth when her guildmates were in danger (and when a certain pink-haired pervert tried to invade her personal space), Lucy shoved him off her and tossed the surprised dragon slayer several feet away.

"Wha-"

"PERVERT!" she screamed as her fist connected with his jaw, effectively knocking him out cold before he could summon a single flame. If she had harbored a small flicker of fondness for the boy as he tried to rest upon her breast, it was immediately forgotten in the satisfaction that came with laying out said mage, and the pain in her hand that followed soon after.

From her left came a sudden rustling before the six senshi of Earth burst through the underbrush, looking around for what they had thought was another enemy. Seeing none, Lucy watched as looks of confusion swept across the group.

"Is everything alright, Lucy? We heard a scream." Usagi said, still on guard, though she was now focused on the Spirit mage.

"Oh, err, that was me." Lucy answered sheepishly, her face turning bright red once more as she stepped to the side, revealing the fallen Dragon Slayer in all his prone glory.

As one, the group blinked in shock, once, twice, thrice, before a small giggle escaped Minako's lips. She quickly slapped her hands over her mouth, trying to stifle the sound, but another soon followed via Makoto. As though it were the catalyst, the entire group broke down into laughter while Lucy looked on in shock and embarrassment. After several moments, she hesitantly joined them, not quite sure whether she was the butt of the joke or not.

It took a surprisingly long amount of time for the Senshi to calm themselves to a point where they were capable of rational speech.

"Sorry," Usagi said, wiping her eyes, "it's just we were so scared something had happened to you guys, and this was so completely opposite of what we were expecting." she said, gesturing at the boy who had yet to stir.

Lucy nodded slowly, before she half turned, giving her partner a somewhat worried look. "I hope I didn't hit him too hard," she said, "He should have been up by now," Usagi and the rest shared a glance, their humor quickly dissipating to be replaced with worry.

Walking over with the others following close behind, Lucy approached Natsu and kneeled at his side. Reaching out, she grabbed his shoulder and shook it gently.

"Natsu?" she called softly, with no response. Frowning, she repeated her actions and called a bit louder. To her relief, he finally began to stir, his eyes flickering open to stare at her.

"Luce? Is that you?" he whispered, his voice low.

"Yes, who else would it be, moron?" she retorted, her annoyance with him quickly returning now that he seemed to be alright.

"Luce, where are you?" He suddenly asked, causing her worry to come trickling back.

"What do you mean? I'm right in front of you, Natsu," she said, her hands beginning to tremble.

"Are you? Then did I sleep till nighttime? Everything is dark."

"Oh shit," she whispered, before tears started leaking from the corners of her eyes, "Oh shit, oh no, oh Shit, Oh No, OH SHIT!" She shouted, before she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, shoulders, burying her face in his chest. "I'm sorry, Natsu, I'm so sorry. I swear I'll never hit or kick you again, I promise, just please, please don't be blind," she chanted over and over again, their new friends standing behind her in stunned silence.

"Wait," She heard him say. Her eyes widening, she lifted her head and looked at him hopefully, praying that he had just been too stupid to open his eyes correctly before.

"Blind? Is that was this is? I'm blind!?" To her horror, she watched as he slowly extended his hands in front of him, slowly bringing them into contact with her face.

'Blind,' she thought, the word echoing through her mind, 'I just blinded my partner and best friend,'

* * *

**Ey there! I'm so sorry for the late update, but I literally could not think of what to write next, so I switched to _For Better or Worse_ for a while and got that new chapter updated, and then went about creating a new cover for this story. I couldn't sleep last night, so I got up around midnight and went to the study lounge on my floor and began working on coloring and piecing together the book cover. Finished at about 7 AM, and then the inspiration hit! I finished up the chapter, and was so eager to get it uploaded, that I didn't do a thorough proof-reading. That'll probably come back to bite me in the rear, but please forgive me a little ^.^ And if you see anything major, please leave a review and tell me so I can fix it!**

**Speaking of reviews, thank you to my second reviewer, a Guest account. I'm glad you are enjoying the story, and both this, and future chapters, continue to live up to your expectations!**

**If you like my writing, feel free to check out my other story, _For Better or Worse_.**

**Also, I'm in the process of acting as Beta for two stories.  
_-Home_, a Sailor Moon Fic by IndigoMoon (though I'm not sure if she's uploaded the first few chapters of this yet) and,  
-_Defenders of Earth: Warriors of Mars_, a Sailor Moon/Doctor Who Universe crossover by DarthBrando (This one does have it's first few chapters up). **

**Both are quite good, and I'm sure they would love some fans to read their stories and, if you are up to it, give them feedback as well!**

**Until next time, readers!**

**Mix**


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